Does a product that is sold as ‘Tofubutter’ but which lacks butter contravene the EU’s ‘agricultural products’ Regulation 1308/2013?
Continue readingTag Archives: packaging
Case C-530/15, Melitta France – card core, hardcore packaging law
Inside a roll of toilet paper is a cardboard core. Does this internal element form part of the toilet paper’s packaging? It is a question which has stymied the French courts. The answer depends on the word ‘packaging’ which is found in the EU’s ‘packaging and packaging waste’ Directive 94/62/EC. If the answer is that the cardboard core does constitute packaging, then potential casualties of the CJEU’s ruling will not just be France’s toilet-paper makers but also France’s manufacturers of absorbent kitchen paper, aluminium foil, and even cling film. However, if the answer is no, then the Conseil d’État would like to know whether the EU Commission has acted ultra vires when enacting an ancilliary packaging Directive that has expanded the definition of ‘packaging’ still further. Many millions of euro are at stake.
Continue readingCase C-114/15, AUDACE – audacious French farmers buy Spanish veterinary medicinal products
French farmers have been nipping over the Spanish border to go shopping for their veterinary medicinal products. This is not allowed under French law, only French-authorised wholesalers can import veterinary drugs. The French farmers wonder if the internal market exists.
Continue readingCase C-547/14, Philip Morris Brands – the Second Tobacco Products Directive is invalid
Is the EU’s Second Tobacco Products Directive 2014/40/EU invalid?
Continue readingCase C-421/13, Apple – seeking trade mark protection for the layout and design of a retail store
Is the layout and design of a shop capable of being protected by EU trade mark law? And if so, then what conditions should be attached to prevent a right holder from invoking their monopoly against the stores of their competitors?
Continue readingCase C-98/13, Martin Blomqvist – deliberately purchasing a fake Rolex from China
When a consumer deliberately buys a fake Rolex from a Chinese website and then Danish customs seizes the watch, is the watch to be destroyed without compensation?
Continue readingCase C-583/12, Sintax Trading – who decides whether imported goods infringe design rights?
For the purposes of the EU’s counterfeit goods Regulation No 1383/2003, who is to decide on whether the design of 64 000 bottles of mouthwash imported into Estonia from Ukraine infringes a registered design in Estonia?
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